Do all restaurants have sommeliers?

[Gonzo70]

8 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

 

Do you know if the Decoy cab is readily available around the ship, including the MDR?

 

My last couple cruises Decoy Cab was readily available; did not dine in MDR, so not certain about there - but you certainly should be able to request it be made available on the off chance it is not already stocked there.

 

Regarding your other question, my favorite white Celebrity serves by-the-glass is the Opulence Chardonnay; it is made by Grgich Hills and is just a buck or so over the premium package limit. It is also a good wine for people who primarily drink reds since it is full bodied. I wish Celebrity had some skin contact whites available by-the-glass (often referred to as orange wines) and natural wines available; these are also often pleasant for people primarily used to drinking reds due to the added texture and depth of flavor. There are some outstanding ones being produced; my favorite of these right now is the Jolie Laide Pinot Gris; won't find it on Celebrity, but if you ever see it on a menu at a land restaurant well worth ordering.

[Gonzo70]

On 7/14/2019 at 12:08 PM, phoenix_dream said:

Those are unfortunately out of my league.  But my favorite more reasonably priced wine is Conundrum, by Caymus.  We usually can get it on the Premium Beverage package.  Not a cab, but a very smooth, fruity, full-bodied red blend.  Many who like cabs should like this one.  Not sure of the onboard cost, but can find it in stores between $20 and $25.  Going to Napa this fall and going to go to the Caymus vineyard, where the tastings include Caymus.  Can't wait. 

 

 

Enjoy Napa!

 

My very favorite vineyard there is not far from Caymus; it is called Viader. If you are willing to splurge for a tasting it is an amazing experience. In addition to phenomenal wine (primarily Cab based), the vineyard is at about the highest elevation in the Napa area. Stunning views from the outdoor patio as you sample the wines. It is a private tasting experience (your party only) and you receive a tour and some nice bites of food paired with the tastes. The tasting is comped if you purchase at least three bottles and/or join their wine club. Since they are a very small winery most people have not heard of them, but it is really a special place and special wine. You need to book an appointment in advance; link to their website is below in case you want to look into visiting.

 

https://viader.com/

[bhughey]

3 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

 

Do you know if the Decoy cab is readily available around the ship, including the MDR?

 

We sailed the Summit this past October '18 and the Infinity in January - we had no trouble finding Decoy. In fact, after the first two nights of ordering it in the dining room, I don't think our glasses ever went empty :).

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Just now, bhughey said:

 

We sailed the Summit this past October '18 and the Infinity in January - we had no trouble finding Decoy. In fact, after the first two nights of ordering it in the dining room, I don't think our glasses ever went empty :).

 

That’s nice to hear!  One of my service issues on previous cruises is with the drink packages we have to order wine by the glass and by the time I’d get my second, outside of specialty restaurants, dinner was nearly over.  We have select seating though so I assume we will get different servers all the time. Was you experience in the MDR?

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, Gonzo70 said:

 

Enjoy Napa!

 

My very favorite vineyard there is not far from Caymus; it is called Viader. If you are willing to splurge for a tasting it is an amazing experience. In addition to phenomenal wine (primarily Cab based), the vineyard is at about the highest elevation in the Napa area. Stunning views from the outdoor patio as you sample the wines. It is a private tasting experience (your party only) and you receive a tour and some nice bites of food paired with the tastes. The tasting is comped if you purchase at least three bottles and/or join their wine club. Since they are a very small winery most people have not heard of them, but it is really a special place and special wine. You need to book an appointment in advance; link to their website is below in case you want to look into visiting.

 

https://viader.com/

Thanks for the info!

[bhughey]

3 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

That’s nice to hear!  One of my service issues on previous cruises is with the drink packages we have to order wine by the glass and by the time I’d get my second, outside of specialty restaurants, dinner was nearly over.  We have select seating though so I assume we will get different servers all the time. Was you experience in the MDR?

We haven't sailed without the drink package since.... like, 2012? I've generally not had an issue with a refill - in select or fixed. With fixed dining however, the waiter tends to pick up on your preferences, so I've found it to be a bit more consistent.

 

[phoenix_dream]

7 minutes ago, bhughey said:

 

We sailed the Summit this past October '18 and the Infinity in January - we had no trouble finding Decoy. In fact, after the first two nights of ordering it in the dining room, I don't think our glasses ever went empty :).

That has usually been our experience, until we sailed Reflection earlier this year.  We had to fight for it in Blu.  First we were told it was not available, then we were told it was not on the premium beverage package, and finally after quite a bit of arguing (it's my hubby's favorite after all and we sail Celebrity often so we know what package it's on) we were able to get it for the rest of the cruise.  Never had that happen before.  But then on that particular sailing they were running out of all kinds of things, including limes, some beers, greek yogurt and I can't remember what else.  

[zitsky]

20 hours ago, vtcruising said:

The Decoy cab is $14/glass (or at least it was in April).

 

The wine list can vary, but here is one from the MDR:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we talk about wine lists in the MDR, Blu etc is it just one list with everything so you can pick and choose?  (Did I ask this already?)

[bhughey]

Now try getting just a simple glass of prosecco by the pool or a glass of Domaine Chandon.... that's a different story. Nine times out of 10, it usually ends up being Celebrity Vintages.

Edited July 16, 2019 by bhughey

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

 

When we talk about wine lists in the MDR, Blu etc is it just one list with everything so you can pick and choose?  (Did I ask this already?)

 

For Blu,  they don't separate Classic from Premium, but the wine steward usually will ask which package you have, if any, and keep you in range. They may have other wines available on different ships, due to inventory, and they may get you something from another restaurant that is sold by the glass (or if you luck out, they may let you try something not on the list). For example, if you want a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough and they don't have it, they may get some to keep it on hand for you.

 

Here is the Blu list:

 

Blu Wine.pdf

 

 

For the MDR, they have them separated by Classic and Premium.  This is the full wine list for the Edge so it has the special drinks/wines for each of the 4 MDRs at the beginning of the list - you can scroll down to page 6 for by the glass wines and then 1/2 bottles and then bottles.

 

MDR Wine List.pdf

 

 

This is the Luminae wine list:

 

Luminae Wine.pdf

 

 

 

[boom_boom]

On the Equinox  a few months ago there were 3 fully qualified somms on board, the rest were just wine stewards. We got to know one of the somms very well and got great service from him. The bars were hit and miss, while MDR was mostly good service, but I didn't expect them to do any more than take my order. I still remember one cruise where a wine steward gave me Merlot when I ordered Pinot Noir. I challenged him on what he served and he admitted they were out of Pinot and thought Merlot would be just as good. At least that wasn't on X.

[zitsky]

At a restaurant Caprice in Wilmington, NC.  Nice restaurant but we ordered a Malbec and a Bordeaux.  We were pretty sure we got the wrong wine, so we swapped.

[cangelmd]

8 hours ago, Gonzo70 said:

 

My last couple cruises Decoy Cab was readily available; did not dine in MDR, so not certain about there - but you certainly should be able to request it be made available on the off chance it is not already stocked there.

 

Regarding your other question, my favorite white Celebrity serves by-the-glass is the Opulence Chardonnay; it is made by Grgich Hills and is just a buck or so over the premium package limit. It is also a good wine for people who primarily drink reds since it is full bodied. I wish Celebrity had some skin contact whites available by-the-glass (often referred to as orange wines) and natural wines available; these are also often pleasant for people primarily used to drinking reds due to the added texture and depth of flavor. There are some outstanding ones being produced; my favorite of these right now is the Jolie Laide Pinot Gris; won't find it on Celebrity, but if you ever see it on a menu at a land restaurant well worth ordering.

Is the opulence an oaky Chardonnay? I’m pretty sure I had it on our last cruise and remember it being Oakes, but not the most buttery I’ve ever had

[cangelmd]

1 hour ago, boom_boom said:

On the Equinox  a few months ago there were 3 fully qualified somms on board, the rest were just wine stewards. We got to know one of the somms very well and got great service from him. The bars were hit and miss, while MDR was mostly good service, but I didn't expect them to do any more than take my order. I still remember one cruise where a wine steward gave me Merlot when I ordered Pinot Noir. I challenged him on what he served and he admitted they were out of Pinot and thought Merlot would be just as good. At least that wasn't on X.

As I mentioned before we had an amazingly “bad” experience in the MDR on an RCCL a couple years ago. I say it that way because I do not want to diss anyone working as hard as these young men were. The ship had been in dry dock for a refurb ( is this sounding familiar, Equinox folk?), and a hurricane came to the Bahamas, so the ship left dry dock early. We were on the 2nd or 3rd cruise, supposedly after dry dock, but it was actually more like a month after the storm. A lot of the crew was new, and were still trying to get trained - all the service in the MDR was chaotic, waiters didn’t know the menu, food runners couldn’t decipher waiters notes, etc. First world problems and an excuse to order another bottle of bubbly - except the poor, run off his feet “wine steward” didn’t know how to open it or how it tasted because he was from Indonesia and had never even tasted wine. First world probs! They all got big tips, because they were doing their best without a lot of help.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

2 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

As I mentioned before we had an amazingly “bad” experience in the MDR on an RCCL a couple years ago. I say it that way because I do not want to diss anyone working as hard as these young men were. The ship had been in dry dock for a refurb ( is this sounding familiar, Equinox folk?), and a hurricane came to the Bahamas, so the ship left dry dock early. We were on the 2nd or 3rd cruise, supposedly after dry dock, but it was actually more like a month after the storm. A lot of the crew was new, and were still trying to get trained - all the service in the MDR was chaotic, waiters didn’t know the menu, food runners couldn’t decipher waiters notes, etc. First world problems and an excuse to order another bottle of bubbly - except the poor, run off his feet “wine steward” didn’t know how to open it or how it tasted because he was from Indonesia and had never even tasted wine. First world probs! They all got big tips, because they were doing their best without a lot of help.

 

LOVE your positive attitude!  We need more people like you cruising!  The crews on all these ships work their tails off and I’ve seen some passengers be so rude to them, like they were second class citizens or something. 🤬

[cangelmd]

31 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

LOVE your positive attitude!  We need more people like you cruising!  The crews on all these ships work their tails off and I’ve seen some passengers be so rude to them, like they were second class citizens or something. 🤬

Thank you, I cringe when I read some posts and even more when I see entitled, boorish behavior onboard - yes, you are paying through the nose for this trip, but that's not the fault of the poor kid bussing tables.

Dinner on that trip did get comical after awhile. We were a group of 6 Southerners born and bred. We would wait quietly until the staff walked away and then shuffled all the plates around because someone's was always wrong - too polite to correct them after the 3rd time, we would just swap and only complain if we were missing a plate or if one was completely wrong. Turkey is more esoteric than you would think, I believe we had to spell that one. After the second night we began carefully pointing to what we were ordering - that helped immensely.

 

Levity aside, I think the training can be hit or miss at best, you would think that the cruise line has well developed training programs by now, but who knows, there could be a huge language barrier or maybe it was just because leaving drydock threw everything off. I remember they were adding specialty restaurants to this older ship, and contractors were working in the restaurant spaces throughout the trip.

Edited July 17, 2019 by cangelmd

[Fogfog]

On 7/13/2019 at 10:34 AM, zitsky said:

I am on the Equinox.  Do most restaurants have sommeliers?  Sounds nice but I have seen a few reviews where they don't give you service.  I am used to ordering on my own.  Have you ever had a bad sommelier?

 

In our experience we have had a very poor wine steward on a recent TA

He was not a credentialed sommelier

He didn't want o recommend white wines "because he didn't like them/grow up with them"

and he behaved horribly when we didn't pay for his "pairing course"

It took intervention with the MaitreD and Head Sommelier of the ship to put it right

 

 

[Cruise Junky]

On 7/15/2019 at 12:52 PM, Gonzo70 said:

 

The best way is to ask about their training. If they mention it was through Celebrity, they are not a real sommelier. The two most known institutions for training/certifying sommeliers are WSET and the Court of Master Sommeliers. If they have accreditation from one of these, they are the real deal.  As mentioned by someone else, within these there are different levels of accreditation. For example WSET has four levels (each becomes more challenging, time consuming and expensive to obtain). Like others I have experienced a decent range of wine service on Celebrity ranging from horrible to good; the biggest issue usually (more so than their level of knowledge) is how overworked they are in most venues. Try building a strong personal relationship with them early in the cruise and express interest in taking a wine tasting class in order to have a greater shot of more attentive service; giving an extra tip if you do receive good service also can help. 

Exactly. I have my WSET 3 and just smile with some of the things they try and tell me. I never want to make them feel bad but please don’t make stuff up. 

[zitsky]

I think there is nothing rude about politely correcting staff when they make a mistake.  Same when you don't agree with the wine steward when they are pretending to be a sommelier.  I will admit I've never had a sommelier on a cruise.  I would love to have a good one.

 

I do try to tip well but isn't tipping at the end enough?

Edited July 17, 2019 by zitsky

[Blazerboy]

On 7/13/2019 at 4:23 PM, lovecruzin said:

 

I think many of them onboard would not know the difference between East Bay or Paso. As they have never been to CA and are unaware of the different climates, etc...There are some good wines that come from Livermore though!

One way we can usually tell how knowledgeable they are, is by asking what region the grapes are from. If they look at the back of the bottle and tell me where it was bottled we know that even “wine steward” is a generous title!

Thanks for defending the East Bay!  While we tend towards Sonoma, Napa and Lake County wines, there are some excellent Livermore wines, especially Wood Family and Stephen Kent

[lovecruzin]

1 hour ago, Blazerboy said:

Thanks for defending the East Bay!  While we tend towards Sonoma, Napa and Lake County wines, there are some excellent Livermore wines, especially Wood Family and Stephen Kent

 

When we lived in the Bay Area we would go wine tasting in Livermore. Now we tend more towards Santa Lucia and Napa and Sonoma!

[chemmo]

Funniest wine story we have is from traveling on Star Cruise lines. We picked up a 5 night cruise in Singapore as part of a three centre holiday.

 

We had a great time although being only one of a few Europeans on board it was different. There were no drinks packages so first night we chose a mid priced bottle of  Merlot we knew. The wine waiter went to fetch it and came back with something totally different. When we politely mentioned it wasn’t what we had ordered he replied “It’s red, it’s same price”....Actually it was quite a nice wine!

 

 

 

[zitsky]

8 hours ago, Blazerboy said:

Thanks for defending the East Bay!  While we tend towards Sonoma, Napa and Lake County wines, there are some excellent Livermore wines, especially Wood Family and Stephen Kent

 

Tell you what.  You send me a case of Livermore wine and I'll do a review.  Do you consider Lodi and Manteca equally good?

[Blazerboy]

8 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Tell you what.  You send me a case of Livermore wine and I'll do a review.  Do you consider Lodi and Manteca equally good?

Some of the wineries in Livermore are really quite good, and sell at appropriately high prices, in part because there are affluent communities nearby, so there's an increased market. In addition to the others, we like Murietta's Well, too.

 

Lodi et al produce some very drinkable wines.  We go once a year in the Winter to stock up when all the wineries have case sales, but, for the most part, we call those "Wednesday Night Wines," as they are good for the impromptu midweek indulgence.  There were very few that we would serve at a dinner party.🙂  Not fabulous, but at less than $5. Per bottle, my poor palette can suffer a little.😉 We love the bargains we get being surrounded by so many wine regions.

[Veinless]

Wanted to also chime in that Yan on the Equinox is great. Hope she’s still there this January. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Veinless